Aztec Ruins Administrative History

THE ARCHEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS AND THEIR EXHIBITION IN THE FIRST TWO MUSEUMS

The goods the Anasazi made for their daily needs were the source of trouble from the time Euro-Americans first entered the Animas valley. They were the lures that prompted many settlers to violate prehistoric sites, unknowingly or carelessly destroying irreplaceable scientific data. They were prizes offered to financiers of shoveling explorations, such as those conducted by Morris himself. At Aztec Ruin, the worn cast-offs, the burial offerings, the objects left by the grinding bins upon departure many centuries ago became a kind of spoils-of-war.

From the initial meeting between landowner Abrams and museum operatives, the division of artifact finds was of uppermost concern. It was commendable for the times that Abrams never thought of a personal collection except in terms of what could be shown to those who took the trouble to come see the old communal house on his farm. A building housing these materials was his primary goal, and none of those who dealt with him over the next nine years of his life doubted it. Still, behind this ideal there probably was a characteristically Western frontier suspicion of Easterners. Abrams likely would not have been surprised if the museum stripped the site, leaving him only a bare-bones, rocky skeleton of what had been.

It is unclear whether, at the conclusion of the exploratory work by the American Museum in 1916, Abrams actually was allowed to select an assortment of small objects taken from the fill of various units. This may have been his stake in exposing old dwellings on his land. It is more probable that the entire haul was shipped to New York. So that there would be no suspicion that the museum was simply out for loot at all costs, Wissler hastened to justify this procedure. "As those specimens have a scientific value," he wrote, "we think it inadvisable to deposit them in the ruin or in the vicinity until proper provisions have been made for their care and housing." [52] For the moment, this was a position to which Abrams acquiesced.

Notwithstanding, at the end of the productive season of 1917, Abrams insisted on earmarking a selection of artifacts for himself prior to allowing the collection to leave the premises. The field catalogue after work stopped indicated 27 specimens as "left with Mr. Abrams" and 65 specimens as "selected by Mr. Abrams." [53] As Morris explained to Wissler, "Most of the specimens would be ready for shipment now were it not for the fact that Abrams insists on going over them, and coming to at least a tentative agreement concerning their division. He is willing then that everything be shipped and remain in the museum several years if necessary for study purposes. I would have preferred not to have taken up this matter at all at this time, but I think Abrams would try to stop shipment unless some understanding were arrived at." [54] Wissler intended to have Abrams come to New York at museum expense and make a division when all the materials were in one place, but Abrams's suspicions made that plan impractical. [55]

About one-third of the artifacts chosen by Abrams came from the rich deposits found in Room 41. Some were outstanding specimens, such as quartzite or onyx knives with wooden hafts still attached, portions of strands of shell or stone beads, mosaic fragments, and especially fine pieces of decorated earthenwares. One of the pieces of pottery was a greyware dipper with black and red decorations. Morris mentioned it in the field catalogue with the notation, "would appreciate the specimen, if at completion of excavation it can be spared from museum exhibit." [56] Morris illustrated 14 of these items in the report upon which he was then working. [57] The artifacts were marked as being for the Abrams collection but were kept in the East. [58] The rationale for this was that analysis for future publication might be carried out there. [59] The war and other circumstances actually shifted most later analysis to whatever quarters Morris occupied during long winters in New Mexico.

During the next several years when negotiations for purchase of the ruins were under way, the question of ownership of specimens became so complicated by alternative proposals that likely neither party to the contract was sure of its current standing. Further divisions of artifacts were postponed. The American Museum felt a sale agreement with Abrams would negate his claim to them. Abrams refused to accept such terms. The museum persisted. Abrams reluctantly gave in.

A museum of sorts was in the offing. Most artifacts, other than skeletal materials and rare items, then were being held at Aztec because they duplicated specimens already in New York, where storage space was at a premium. Wissler considered it pointless to pay intercontinental freight on potsherds or weighty stone objects. [60] A small display, an equitable part of which surely was considered Abrams property although nothing was marked accordingly, was arranged in the storage shed at Aztec Ruin. This showing was to comply with the excavation contract stipulations. Simple as that exhibit was, it was the first museum at the site.

After Wissler came to Aztec in 1919 to discuss a sale, Abrams had a clause inserted into his tentative deed to the property that a formal museum must be established not later than January 1, 1923. Doubtless he was unhappy at the delay in his favorite project and sought to force some action over the next four years. To further secure the rights of the Abrams family and to guarantee a facility available to the town of Aztec, the lawyerly document read: "The exhibit, when installed, shall be open to the public at reasonable hours and seasons of the year, and the grantors and family, and specially invited guests shall have access to the exhibit at such times as the same is customarily open, free of whatever admission charges that may be imposed upon the general public, which charges, if any are made, shall be reasonable at all times." [61]

The museum clause was stricken from the Abrams deed when an American Museum gift of the site to the government seemed feasible. Federal restrictions prohibited its implied future expenditures. Nevertheless, Abrams continued to demand that a museum be included in development plans. To Wissler he wrote, "As to the relics or specimens taken from the ruin under the old contract I am in no hurry for them and wish you to keep them untill [sic] you have made your study of them then I would like to place them in your museum here." [62]

In 1922, the museum to which Abrams referred was the partially finished exhibition room on the west side of the stone house. Meanwhile, after requesting permission to do so on two previous occasions, Morris moved the courtyard shed to the back yard of his house so that there would be no question as to whether the museum or the National Park Service owned the artifacts stored and exhibited in it. [63] In the process, a portion of the flimsy Annex remains was leveled. [64] Earlier a buried kiva was found in the same area while digging a post hole. [65]

The next year when the National Park Service took over, Abrams repeated his familiar message, indirectly acknowledging American Museum, rather than federal, ownership of the artifacts. "Whenever the American Museum of Natural History finishes the exhibit room at the Aztec Ruin I will request them to place therein my part of the relics they have, that have been taken from this ruin, there to remain as a permanent exhibit." [66]

In 1923, one of Wissler's instructions to Morris prior to his first departure for the Carnegie program in Yucatan was to ship all unusual or especially valuable artifacts from Aztec Ruin to New York but to keep at Aztec objects needed for reports scheduled to complete the museum's Aztec volume and an exhibition series to cover obligations to Abrams. He also notified Abrams of these directives. [67]

A year later, the same instructions were repeated, implying that they had not been carried out yet to his satisfaction. Possibly they were intended as a subtle prod to get Morris back to writing about work completed at Aztec Ruin instead of heading for further digging in Canyon del Muerto.

There was a glimmer of hope in 1924 that a museum designed specifically to show Abrams and American Museum artifacts might be constructed. Wissler reported that he was vice-chairman of a new committee formed within the American Association of Museums to work with the "Parks Service" to raise funds for such constructions and their administration within national precincts. Already the committee had obtained money for two museums. Aztec was being considered as the location of a third. [68] An immediate decision about the selection of Aztec Ruin seems to have bogged down. Two years later Bumpus visited Aztec Ruin on behalf of the committee to judge its value as a museum locale. [69] Because two months later Abrams was dead, it is unknown if he was able to confer personally with Bumpus to impress upon him his deep conviction of the necessity for a museum. Very likely he was disillusioned and sure that he had indeed been victimized by Easterners. He no longer had the Aztec Ruin, apparently never had personal custody of any appreciable number of specimens from it, and no museum was in sight.

When the American Museum declined to provide further caretaker service to the National Park Service at the end of 1926, Morris was faced with the problem of security of his own possessions, as well as those in the shed where the first Aztec Ruin museum display was kept. He elected to have Fassel continue to occupy the shed in which he had been ensconced for much of the previous year. Morris moved the display of specimens and boxes of other archeological materials stored there to the greater safety afforded by the basement of his stone house. Morris explained his action to Pinkley, to whom he owed no accounting but whose good will was essential to the successful, albeit unofficial, joint operation of the installation. "I am not willing to be personally responsible for the safety of the specimens housed in a firetrap like the shanty in which they were displayed," he said. "Therefore I have removed and stored the exhibit until the future shall provide decent quarters for it." [70] He also notified Wissler of this move. [71] Both men agreed that under the circumstances storage was the wisest action. The exhibit fell victim to Morris's foreign assignment and to the government's abrogation of responsibility in not manning the monument.

Given the local interest in the welfare of Aztec Ruin, Morris anticipated that there would be a public outcry when the closing of the primitive museum became known. He imagined a clamorous drive for community subscriptions to keep the facility open, but that in the end there would be little money collected and the effort would result in a great deal of abrasive bother. He intended to keep any American Museum artifacts under lock and key until such time as the government demonstrated its sincere interest in providing a suitably monitored museum. [72]

Even with administration backing, Morris remained so worried over possible adverse reaction to his decision by the Abrams family and the community at large that he left a general memorandum in the files detailing his perception of the situation as it then existed at Aztec Ruin. He stated that he anticipated the specimen withdrawal to be a temporary measure. [73]

When Boundey became aware of the situation four months later, he was unsympathetic, apparently preferring to think Morris had acted imperiously rather than cautiously. Probably he was not privy to the agreements between the museum and Abrams about the specimens. His hostile attitude was reinforced when he learned that the splendid painted Room 156 in the West Wing had been resealed shortly after its discovery in 1920 (and has remained so to the present time). Mistakenly, he believed it to be hidden somewhere within the portion of the ruin retained by the American Museum.

In June 1927, Superintendent Pinkley made an inspection trip to Aztec Ruin to see how Custodian Boundey was getting along. He received a barrage of grievances, one of which concerned the Anasazi artifacts. From Crown Point en route back to his office in southern Arizona, Pinkley dispatched a three-page letter to the Washington office recounting these many sore points. [74] The most positive part of the communication was a request that the director attempt to ascertain ownership of the specimens from the site. If the objects did belong to the American Museum, Pinkley asked the director to secure either a donation or a loan of some of them. The reply threw the problem back to the local representatives. "In reference to the ownership of the representative collection of artifacts at the Ruin," it said, "we do not feel inclined to take this matter up at this time, because we feel that you and Mr. Boundey will be able to work out a satisfactory solution of this and other matters with Mr. Morris." [75] In other words, Washington was not interested.

Within two weeks after his return to Aztec from the winter of 1927 in Yucatan, Morris sought and received permission to temporarily loan the government a selection of the archeological materials stored in the basement of the American Museum house. [76] Considering the personal animosity shown by Boundey, the loan was inordinately generous. In November, Morris and Boundey signed an itemized list of some 261 specimens slated to be displayed in a space that Boundey planned to revamp into the second Aztec Ruin museum. [77]